Category: Henri Matisse

Impressionism in Photography

Learning is a lifetime endeavor. At least that is what I figured out years ago and the other day I really learned something that is very important to me and that is how to describe my artwork… And that is Impressionistic photography.

A couple of days ago, I found a term that describes my work well… Impressionism… And this quote by Matisse pretty much wraps it up for me. The term has been around for some time and I discovered it on a blog that I found just the other day. Art Lark.org — An Alternative Cultural Daybook explores many topics with an ease that I normally do not find amongst art educators or critics. The work that the authors have put into this blog is amazing.

So briefly, how does the term fit my work?

For those that have followed my work and my writings you have seen I love to play with the images I take, primarily to show the world in other ways rather stark reality and we all know reality is fleeting. My reality is not yours. Yours is not mine. The fact is your and my reality is a function of our life experiences and physiology. Impressionism has been just that… In its simplest term, it is one’s own impression of the world. It is the artist’s reality, that is being shared with the world.

So thank you, Art Lark for teaching me something new this week and Matisse for sharing a thought that I will live with for some time.

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.” ~ Henri Matisse

Spring Green—Along Lake Harriet

Teaching design, especially beginning design, I find myself continually correcting myself when I speak about the rules of design. Luckily, I listen as I speak and hear those words escape my lips and correct myself. “NO RULES, Guidelines… No rules.”

I never want my students to be imprisoned by rules… If designers were restricted by rules there would be no Milton Glaser, David Carson, Neville Brody, or Paula Scher.